In a major boost to women’s sports, Bangladesh Army decided to recruit female athletes for the first time in 17 disciplines as part of their massive expansion plan of the sports wing.
Bangladesh Army finished second in the recently concluded eighth Bangladesh Games behind Bangladesh Ansar with 67 gold medals having participated in only 14 disciplines and all of their contestants were male.
Army Sports Control Board decided to add 12 more disciplines in the men’s category which
will take their total number of disciplines to 26.
Alongside, it is in favour of introducing 17 female athletes.
The ASCB on Tuesday discussed the matter with different sports federation officials and requested to send the interested young athletes for a trial whose schedule is yet to be set up.
The newly selected 12 disciplines for the men are – cycling, wushu, fencing, wrestling, body building, rugby, gymnastics, badminton, table tennis, tennis, golf and squash.
They also wished to recruit the women athletes in athletics, swimming, judo, karate, weightlifting, archery, shooting, taekwondo, badminton, cycling, wushu, fencing, wrestling, gymnastics, table tennis, golf and tennis.
Brigadier General Abdul Hamid, chairman of the ASCB said that they will reserve highest priority for the female athletes in order to help them gain some success both locally and internationally.
‘We did not have any options for the female athletes in the past. Now we want to give them special priority,’ he said.
`We will find the sports talent from the grass-root level and recruit them as a soldier and will provide them all kinds of facilities to avoid the uncertainties of life.’
‘We wish to increase the competition in sports so that the country gets a huge number of sports talents. For the greater interest of sports, we decided to recruit a large number of athletes in different disciplines,’ he added.
The federation’s officials reacted positively regarding Bangladesh Army’s initiative.
‘It’s a positive step taken by Bangladesh Army. With this decision, the athletes can look towards a bright future. We will request the players to participate in the trial,’ said Zubaydur Rahman Rana, general secretary of the Bangladesh Badminton Federation.
Bangladesh Football Federation general secretary, Abu Nayeem Shohag said that they have requested to introduce female footballers in the women’s wing as well.
‘Army appealed to bring 25-30 young footballers as they want to form a strong men’s team. We requested them to include the women’s football team also,’ said Shohag.
-With New Age input
